Isn't there a Sleeping Beauty in a forest?

Nemureru Mori? FUUUUUI even went so far as to upload my Tsuyoshi-bawling-in-one-of-the-most-beautiful-films-ever-made icon for this post. :*

☆ FIRST AND FOREMOST: I did not appreciate Naoki's afterthought death in like, what? The last minute or so? Don't get me wrong; I was invested and had grown to love him and thus very biased but if there had at least been some sort of BUILD UP then maybe I would've understood. Or at least been like 'sure okay fine I can deal I get it I mean there were hints being dropped along the way what're you gonna do?' but noooooooo, none of that. And if someone tries to tell me his headaches, which there were like two of after the Santa Claus beating, and him slowing down here and there were sufficient enough? Uhhhhh. No. If I didn't know any better, I would think they were just playing with our heartstrings - I was already in a very volatile position before episode 12, I thought we were over and done with the bs but nope. Unnecessary melodramatica had to strike again. NGEL. I wanted to go all yakuza on my computer's butt by the time the credits started rolling and It Wasn't Even My Acer's Fault. ;AAA; Just Wondering: How many of you actually thought he was dead and not, idk, unconscious? Did any of you... expect it?!I think I just need to know I'm not alone, lol.

★ I wasn't crazy about Kiichiro going crazy (yeah, I went there). Well, it doesn't bother me that much, but I guess I was sort of hoping he'd go on and do his best impression of a normal life while going crazy with paranoia but not literally for the rest of his days. I liked the idea of that and could sort of picture it in my head, so I wasn't expecting the psych ward-thing and I guess in the end, Kokubu still got his way.

☆ SPEAKING OF WHICH. What was the point of Kiichiro's mom? I was srsly misled by her in the beginning, thinking that maybe she had a hand in the murder, which, well, I guess she was sorta-kind of involved. BUT SRSLY. What was with that whole I won't forgive the woman who deceives your heart? Maybe I'm just not reading into it deep enough? I figured it had smth to do with Minako but even still, I don't know how to apply it. :/ IDEK. I just really wanted to fast-forward any scenes she was in (although I never did |D) by the 9th episode, and a shame too because I love Harada Mieko.

★ So exactly how many forbidden/incest-love dramas has Kimura done? Lol. As soon as he found the locket I was pretty sure it was an Ito, but still. I wanted to wish it wasn't because I was betting on a kiss-scene between the two because yes, by the end of episode 5 I was shipping them instead and firm in my belief that Kiichiro was the killer indeed. Kind of a shame too because I'd really loved their relationship (Minako's and Kiichiro's) in the beginning, especially the first scene in the first episode with the phonecall morning and siiiiiigh. It was fun while it lasted.

But you know, in general, overlooking those little things above except for Naoki's death - I'm never overlooking that I really liked this drama. There was even a few points in the show where I thought it might usurp Karei Naru which is my favourite drama ever and probably always will be unless Kitaoji Kinya works with Tsuyopon :DD but in the end it didn't. Kim' was Pretty Great in it though, creeper!Kim is slowly becoming one of the best things in this world and if only they had stuck with that a little bit longer, even just another episode or two. I've gotta admit, I wasn't pleased when the end of ep 5 brought about the death of creeper!Kim and introduced sympathy. It's refreshing to hate a lead like Kim once in a while and he played whackjob so well too - props for that gorgeous scene in ep 4? where Naoki gets all crazy-eyed on us and unleashes the beast and the transition happens physically/figuratively through a red light filter and uggggggh, prop-placement was beautiful. My ultimate favourite acting of his though is the him and Keita on the rooftop scene; emotions were literally being wrenched from his throat and rolling off his skin and just, dude, for that scene alone and the screaming after his friend I would rec' this drama.

I will always frown at the cut of his tank top though; I LOVE THAT HIS ARMS WERE CLOTHES FREE AND THE LINES OF HIS BODY WERE ALWAYS IN REACH but I just didn't like the way the tank top looked. Smth about the way it was cut on the sides and how it rounded around his chest and how any minute now there could've been a nip-slip. IDK. This means nothing but it bugged me enough that I've got to mention it again, ahaha. The hair-flipping-pushing-playing was very pretty and I loved the way he'd push it up and out of his face (I'm a sucker for shit like that), but I did wonder: how much of that was Naoki and how much of that was just habit-nerves? ♥

Omg, how could I forget? YURI. THE VERY BANE OF MY EXISTENCE AND THE MOST ANNOYING CHARACTER I'VE WATCHED THIS YEAR. DD8 I just couldn't for the life of me learn to love her, not even when Naoki was being a dick and she was crying and then she would try to assert herself... nothing could sway me to care. Okay, that's a lie, I did feel bad and cried when she died But She Was Stupid. Who goes after Santa Claus? ALONE? And then to make it worse it was Keita all along! I liked him and yeah, it probably had mostly to do with the fact it was Yusuke because I love me some Yusuke but still. He was cute sometimes and I liked his acting at parts. The look on his face when he saw Naoki and Yuri get back together though was just tragic. Also: Scene where Naoki and Keita are wearing the giant heads and confessing their Yuri-feelings was really sweet in this baaaaaw-the-boys-are-saying-shit-they-wouldn't-usually-say-if-they-weren't-disguised sort of way.

I guess I should talk about Minako, huh? She was good. idk, it's not that she was bad or anything but there were scenes (particularly big arse more truth is being revealed scenes) where I thought she could've given more. Admittedly though, I can ignore that because Miho is just so beautiful, every time she was on screen I was just all *__* for the first few seconds. And despite how not-excited I sound about the entire thing, I wouldn't have wanted the role to be played by anyone else. I liked her best when you could see her feelings toward Naoki change throughout the entire thing, just from the little subtle ways she'd look at him, the things she'd say - they were key.

Hmmm, I feel like there's more but at the same time I really just think I wanted to get the four bullet points out of my system, lol. I was raging really hard afterwards and needed to find the time to write these out so a few hours later, here I am. 8D;;

IF YOU'VE SEEN THISRage/rant/flail/fuss/squee/anything under this as much as you want.I neeeeeeeeeeeed more people to talk to about this. ಥ⌣ಥ

I'm glad that you finished the drama :D Will try to come back to make some comments later (try to remember all the details cause I must have watched it more than one year ago). However, I got to say that I was all shocked and hurt by Naoiki's death :(( It hurt me so badly that I couldn't get over it for days. What's with that? Still can't accept such a dramatic truth.

Lol, I'm glad I finished it too! I kept putting it aside and procrastinating it but once I got it started, it only took a few days. P: DOOOOOD. Naoki's death was unexpected and unnecessary? in some ways. idk I think it's been too soon for me to make a real opinion that isn't biased by lots of ;AAAAA; so IDEK. It was depressing though, fo sho. (Oh goooood, after watching Poodle's Asuka e I was like that too, lol, srsly, it took me a couple of weeks to get over it /lame).

But just to give a short version... I didn't like Minako so much as I wished. Although I understand her situation I wish she was stronger. And Miho-san is not the best actress in my opinion (I don't know why but suddenly his wifey face pop up in my mind... xDD)

And psychic Kimura!! Love it!! Love it!! LOVE IT! It's not that I don't like the typical hero but I want to see something different, extreme, out of my mind. It was a pity that his "twisted attitude" was gone so fast (I still remember those scenes in GIFT with the butterfly knife). BUT, what came next, those sad emotionless eyes... ahhhhh... *died*

About the ending, I wish he hadn't die but I'm ok with it too. He suffered a head injury (checked) and maybe in death he will finally find the rest and peace he always longed for. I know it's just my twisted mind, still if he lived I wanted to see him in a new quiet town and somehow, lost all his memories, not through hypnosis, and the last scene would be he looking at some picture of his father with Minako and him and throw it away. It's kinda of a happy ending... well... all the thigs that happened to him so far were not good too... :P

I remember when you posted that! And I remember avoiding it like the plague, LOL. I've been steering clear of any and all spoilers/reviews until this very moment. xDD

Despite liking Minako myself, IA with you a lot too. I wanted there to be more in her acting, and idk, in terms of her strength... hmm, I think she got stronger as the show went on, so I wasn't too bugged about that, lol. And oh no, I don't think she is either, but at the same time, I don't necessariy have anyone else in mind that I'd like in the role either. although takeuchi yuko would've been interesting too /BIAS IS HUGE LOL

Pahaha, psychic Kimura. Isn't he? AND OMG YES. He plays the typically hero so good, no one can deny that, but it's nice to see him break the mold once in a while and go for smth a little different - like creepysexystalkermen, thx. <44 It would've been nice if he had been ~dark and mysterious~ the whole time and didn't turn into this oh goood, I feel so bad 4u ;AA; kind of character, But Alas. He's Kim. I get what the writers were trying to do. HIS EYES ARE ALWAYS BEAUTIFUL EMOTIVE THINGS. (And omg, GIFT! I still need to see that, was planning on watching it after this buuuut idk. Maybe smth a little more uplifting? Lol)

My biggest problem with him dying was that it just seemingly came out of nowhere; there wasn't enough support to lead me to believe that Yes, This Makes Sense. I remember worrying about the head injury at first, but then it wasn't really focussed on so I didn't really think much of it until the end. I HOPE he found peace in death. I mean, at least Keita and Yuri will be there? :/ But idk, his letter didn't seem like he wanted to die, it sounded like he geniunely wanted to start over with Minako and he Even Bought Her Flowers. ;AAAA;

Just give meanother few days, and I'll get over it and be much more rational about the entire thing. |D;;

Haha! I don't mind spoilers but just a little. Major plot revelations definitely kill my will to watch the entire show. That's why I somehow love dramas in progress, like Nankyoku Tairiku. Ahhh... that one will make me crave for every single episode every day... :P (and I'm already putting some boxes of tissues aside) xDD

Takeuchi Yuko as well as Fukatsu Eri would be so nice. Both of them are my favourite actress, though I think they wanted some older and in that case, Yamaguchi Tomoko will always pop in my head. Their chemistry in LV was absolutely fantastic.

And I won't even start talking about my obsession with psychic Kimura. For once I would really love to see him play a criminal, a twisted mastermind with an evil smile and satisfaction in killing people (gosh... what is happening to me?????). It would be a big challenge for him :P

And YOU!! You haven't watched GIFT yet?? I don't blame you. I gave up in the middle and picked up a few months later. But they have my evil sexy boy (man) there with LONG hair!! Did I already tell you that I have a thing for men with long hair (and the flipping they do), earrings and deep eyes?? ---> Kimura (checked)!

I too needed a week to regain from my Nemureru Mori trauma... :P

(by the way... have you seen my mail with the fic... if you don't have time now don't worry about it... life has been pretty chaotic *sigh*)

Maybe I could leave you a proper comment, if my mind would have not gone totally blank after Noaki's death, and let me forget everything... Still I know, I went to sleep that day with the thought, he.is.not.dead.that.can.not.be.I guess I'll rewatch it... with my grandchildren, when they past 20. x'D Awesome drama, but too much.

Giiiirl, I totally understand where you're coming from. I was that way after Goro's Asuka e and just, I wanted to forget everything about that drama and squash all my feelings and drown my sad-sad feelings in ice cream, lol.

Alas, I'm one of those dimwits for whom Naoki's death didn't quite sink in -- until someone had to spell it out later, lol. @__@ I didn't even think he was merely unconscious -- I honestly thought he had decided at the last minute not to get off the train, that he had chosen the higher path by severing all ties with Minako. The flowers and fruit falling from his hand, the big fat tear rolling down his cheek -- they seemed to me like signs of a man in grief, not of a hematoma victim in his death throes. To live the rest of his life apart from Minako would've been the biggest heartbreak of all, IMO. So yes I thought he lived. :-(

In spite of my wrong take on the ending (or maybe because of it?), Nemureru Mori really left me in pieces. I remember telling someone in the comments thread of my Wordpress review that after watching Nemureru I went on vacation and spent most of it brooding on the beach while replaying the Naoki scenes in my head, and altogether feeling sh*tty and bereft and stuff. Post-vacation I had a talk with my best friend ('coz I still needed closure) and she was like, "You DO know he DIED, right?" and I was like, WHUTTDOYOUMEANHEDIEEEDDDDD lolz T_____T

That said, I share your disgust with the wham-bang ending; this in fact was my biggest issue with the drama. The "warning" signs weren't enough, just didn't tally up -- so Naoki slips and falls in one scene, then he has some difficulty peeling an effin' orange on the train -- and next thing you know, he's DAID, LAWWD HE'S DAID!!! -- I mean, rly hematoma rly??? x__O

As for Kiichiro's mummy, I think she was written in to give viewers a sense of unease towards Kiichiro's character -- a hint that maybe, just maybe, he wasn't all that he seemed. The mother apparitions don't exactly spellitout that Kiichiro is tha killah, but they're ambiguous enough to suggest that he might have a little disturbia of his own going on, and therefore viewers can't discount him outright as a murder suspect. (All the major characters are initially suspect, anyway.) So that when he finally gets unmasked as the baddie, the writer can say, "hey -- it's not like I didn't leave enough clues along the way that good ol' upstanding citizen Kiichiro may actually be a total psycho." My 2 cents anyway ;-)

I don't think there's anything dimwitted about that! Afterwards I kept trying to come up with excuses like, 'oh no no, Naoki's just sleeping and having a terrible dream that causes him to Cry One Single Tear that's all' because Denial's my favourite place to visit this year. Honestly though, your explanation? I could've TOTALLY understood that and even approved after several days of therapeutic crying in the shower because idek, it didn't feel like after all of this, Naoki's storyline life? would lead up to this. I don't care if I was being naive, lol, I srsly believed he'd get a chance to start all over and maybe manage to live half the life he wanted to with Minako finally by his side - despite, you know, the cost of everything else. :/

But there went that. Evil writers proving us wrong once more~

Nemureru Mori really left me in pieces.I KNOOOOOW. (屮ﾟДﾟ)屮 The drama definitely succeeded in that sense, it just leaves you wracked in pain and face covered in snot and tears or maybe that's just me?. Personally, I LOVE dramas that leave me feeling like that, it's not that I necessarily like feeling terrible, but I love when a drama can make me feel like that and leave me all unabashedly sobbing like a three yo while the credits are rolling. Baaah, I hope it didn't ruin your vacation completely! Not enough dramas leave me with that, that mass of afterthoughts and general thinking-process so when they do, it's awesome. it's actually pretty sad how often i end a drama not even remembering a lot of the characters names, lol - but i blame it on 'it's japanese, it's harder for it to stick' |D;;;

THANKTHANKYOUYES. If there had been some sort of lead-up, like, idk, just a little more backbone to the entire thing, I would've been much more fine than I am now. I wouldn't have liked it, but I would've understood and been able to move on faster. If that's how hematoma really works, like, sheeesh, what's to stop me from dropping dead in my social changes of lation america lecture tonight? DD8 /srsly writers you don't have to always write shit because it'll make us sob out entire meals

Oooh, your 2 cents is better than anything I've tried to cook up, lol. There was a point I even thought she was alive and not ethereal, ahaha, but then she started walking through walls and it hit me then. P: I think I was expecting there to be more to her, especially by the last ep - it was like, 'uhhhh, ghost mother, how is your story gonna end??' - but if they wanted to make Kiichiro come off as a little off his rocker, they managed that. Now why didn't they do this in Naoki's case? /forever bitter

UMM. CAN I JUST SAY? I FINALLY READ YOUR NEMUMORI REVIEW LAST NIGHT AFTER THIS POST, LOL, AND UGGGH, IT WAS TOTALLY WORTH THE WAIT. I'VE WANTED TO READ IT FOR MONTHS BUT I ALSO WANTED TO WATCH IT FIRST TOO SO I COULDN'T JUST YET. /i lurk your reviews all the time & i'm a terrible person because of that but omg Y U SO FUNNY?! ♥♥

Re my NemuMori review, thanks for the kind words! I wrote that piece when I was deep in my Kimmy honeymoon stage and was feeling all romantic and moody and tended to over-process everything with rose-tinted glasses, etc etc. I put more thought into writing (and rewriting) it than I normally would and it's one of the few reviews I can say I'm proud of (even though the drama itself isn't a personal fave). ('Coz lately it's all been "Moon Lovers? hahaha *mock, mock*" on my blog >P Dammit Kimmy I need to BELIEVE, MAKE ME BELIEVE AGAIN T___T)

Speaking of Kiichiro I feel a little sorry for Nakamura Toru after having seen him play pretty much the same cold-blooded, creepy character in NemuMori, K-20 (Matsu and Takeshi Kaneshiro hihi) and Karei. You wonder if he can ever transcend the typecasting -- prolly not, not with those eyes of his lol

Personally, I LOVE dramas that leave me feeling like that, it's not that I necessarily like feeling terrible, but I love when a drama can make me feel like that and leave me all unabashedly sobbing like a three yo while the credits are rolling.

Ah. So that explains your partiality to doomed, dark and twisted Kimmy dramas. =P But don't you want to see him get the girl and be happy and survive the last episode at least? xP I do second hereticpop's exhortation to give Long Vacation a try, since it's the one drama that enjoys universal <3 <3 <3 within the Kimura fandom (and even outside it). There are no perfect dramas, but I find LV the closest thing to one -- along with Nobuta wo Produce that is.(Your exchange with hereticpop below is a total LULZ, if I may say!)

LoveGen is a far more polarizing drama (the prod.values are the PITS, and the story is the closest to a '90s soap that Kimura's ever done -- barring Asunaro Hakusho that is haha), but -- oh, it's the falling in love of Kimu and Matsu's characters that makes it worth the watch, IMO. Weird, but I would still choose LG over LV to take to a deserted island. Maybe someday you'll find yourself in the mood for Kimura as a horny, plaid-wearing Gen-Xer. hihihi

YOU KNOW, YURI WAS ACTUALLY GROWING ON ME AND I WAS WILLING TO APPRECIATE HER AND NAOKI TOGETHER UNTIL SHE WENT AHEAD AND YOU KNOW, GOT HERSELF KILLED. THAT ALWAYS HAPPENS WITH CHARACTERS I BEGIN TO LIKE.

Sora Kara is definitely the champ when it comes to Kim's incest-dramas, lol. I think he did some really great stuff in this drama though, don't get me wrong, and I'm glad I watched it all the same. Even though Karei Naru is forever my fav :333 If another gender-changing drama comes out next season, I'm just gonna give up or smth.

so maybe I just masochistically collect All The Dramas And Movies Where Kimu's Character Dies [there's quite a few, after all] but while I was crying my eyes out when NM ended, it also gave me some weird sense of completion? after the initial WTF-they-killed-him?! reaction, of course. no, I didn't see it coming either. but that was somehow even more satisfyingly angsty, without any build up and just something no one expected. ...alright, I shut up.

Kiichiro and his mother where another of the WTF things for me. apart from the fact that we were led to believe at some point that it was her who was the murderer, the only point for her to be there I can find is that it justifies Kiichiro ending up in the psych ward: he was already going crazy before. well he was quite fucked up since his early days, probably, but it would've been a little bit too sudden if he went crazy at the end out of the blue. I didn't like his character from the beginning, though.

lmfao. I watched NM right before That Other Incest-Love Drama and it was horribly misleading because even though I had my suspicions at the beginning, NM made me think that if it's going to turn out to be incest love, there's not gonna be any kissing, or anything. how naive of me. ._. that's why I now suspect every dark mystery drama to turn into incest-love thing, just not to be taken by surprise. 8D

but my feelings about Yuri and Minako are quite opposite, I think. at first I wasn't particularly fond of Yuri either, but then she sticked around and kept sticking around even though she was treated so badly and then even though she wasn't the brightest girl, she actually understood that the person Naoki is hurting the most is himself and I don't know, I just always end up sympathising with the obsessive girlfriend character, I guess. Minako on the other hand was just... uh, I couldn't care less for her. I found her boring, not that pretty and I wished her character actually did something, but she was constantly lost and unsure while other people were getting killed [or beaten up with a pipe, hah].

and I also really liked the Naoki-Yuri-Keita trio and they were all awesome and it was heartbreaking that they ended up dying one after another. Kiichiro and Minako on the other hand survived [more or less]. :|

I think I wasn't particularly fond of the tank top the first time I watched it either [the second I didn't care so much because I just focused on the hot...] but anyway, lol, I completely understand the unimportant detail kind of pet peeve thing. :D

[damn now I really want to watch the last ep just for the moment when he dies but it doesn't have the effect if it's just the one last ep, but I Am Not Re-watching This Again, Dammit.]

You Are Not The Only Masochistic One. idk, I think at the same time, I like when Kim's character dies? It's not because I subconsciously want to see him die or anything, lol, but it's more like, 'aaah, so you're not always perfectly perfect are you?' so even in this case, DESPITE HOW BLINDSIDED I WAS, after the weekend it'll stop hurting. It was deceiving though! There was Minako reading Naoki's letter that seemed to be brimming with renewed hope for tomorrow and I was gushing over that and wtf'ing over his weird ankle trip I legit rewound that 3 times before I proceeded because idgi and just, MEH. I think I was too caught up in the hopes that maybe there would be a happy ending. clearly not our disney sleeping beauty. But yeah, in terms of angst it was perfect so I guess I have to give them a hand for that, somehow? idkidk! I was too attached.

Kiichiro and his mom were weird. Done. since you and enders talk about the same thing i think i can peacefully let that go and believe it was just a means of driving Kiichiro's crazy home

PAHAH. Really? That's pretty hilarious and I feel like a sitcom-writer couldn't have set that up any more perfectly. See, I think it worked the opposite for me. Because I'd seen Sora Kara first, I was hoping thinking there'd be some kissing AT THE VERY LEAST so I was majorly disappointed when nothing happened there. Uhh, lol, should I admit that? Oh well. Whatever, I don't want my incest in RL anyway. xDD I think it's good to assume that there'll be incest in any dark thing you watch. Just in case.

Yuri was suuuch a conflicting character for me. At first I just wanted her outoutout, but she was in the opening credits so I figured she'd be around for the majority of the drama. But idk, by the time she cornered Naoki outside in the lights and hugged him from behind and just obviously understood him she had won me over and I was even behind the two of them getting together even if it meant Keita would be miserable. She was definitely good for getting a better handle of who Naoki was though and yes, I even cried when she died so I guess at the end of the day: She'd grown on me. 8|;; Loool, I can't disagree with the Minako needing to do more sentiment. I guess I liked how she'd come off sometimes when she was with Kiichiro and/or Naoki? idk though. I wanted more, yeah, but it was one of those 'that'll do' sort of things too.

Guuuuuuh, Naoki-Yuri-Keita. Did they ALL have to die? Fucking tragic that. :/ And I was so in love with the Naoki-Keita dynamic too. THE ROOFTOP SCENE? MY HEART DIED REPEATEDLY.

Lol, pheeeew. I love Kim's body and was very appreciative of it, but that top. If I ever watch it again, maybe I'll think differently. xDD

(Omg, whhhhhy do you want to do that to yourself? But I think you should watch the last 3 at the very least, that's when all the shit starts snowballing and everyone dies and you'll be gutted by the end for sure. /sadistic?)

giiiirl, don't you dare reply to this. i went overboard. BUT TY FOR HUMOURING ME. ♥

giiiirl, don't you dare reply to this.tell me not to do something and you've just raised the chance of me doing it by 50%, jsyk.also I've no idea how my first comment became such a wall, I was pretty weirded out myself after I saw it, like when did I type all that?also You Are Not The Only Masochistic One totally played in my head with shiosai's melody. 8DDD/ok, that's it for being a weirdo as if.

ah, but I think I have a different motivation for "liking" his characters dying, it's because that's when they become perfectly perfect for me. it's like a tragic hero who is still a human while he's alive, and you can meet him and touch him and he can turn out to be a total asshole, and he's still the same human being as you, but after he dies he's more of a legend, a notion of a person, he's not the same as you anymore. I mean, I think this is how it works like with all those people who die young and if they're artists, they become legends and if they're regular people, they become 'legends' among their family and friends. plus it's the perfect amount of angst, because while I am hurting for him dying, I can always comfort myself that now that he's dead, nothing bad is going to happen to him [especially if these are those emotionally tormented characters like Naoki]. I'd give you a counter-example but I don't know if you've seen Beautiful Life so I can't spill important plot details. ;)

alright, now this was a definitely unnecessary paragraph about character death idek. oh, but also in NM, I kind of like that it was so sudden that he died because it's how it happens in real life too and I know asking jdramas for real-life-alikeness is a little bit far-fetched, but still, I thought it was a nice touch. [not trying to convince you, though. ;p]

you know what. I think that we're both amazingly persistent, after all the experiences of watching dramas, to still hope for any kissing. >.>' and I was still weirded out by the idea of incest in NM, but Sora Kara depraved me all the way, so yeah, I know what you mean. *sigh*

I hated Yuri for getting herself killed too, because she was that one hope for Naoki to heal mentally and have a somewhat normal life after all this ended - but I also kind of liked the existence of her character for bringing out the angry asshole out of Naoki earlier because oh god how I enjoyed that, and yeah it's screwed of me. but I loved the scene when they talked on the phone for the last time, it kind of redeems me?

AND YES NAOKI AND KEITA'S ROOFTOP SCENE amazingness ;.;

[because I'm hopeless and it's also probably the reason why I've been thinking of rewatching Karei-naru or Beautiful Life - those were for me the keeping-me-depressed-for-days-after dramas, and Sora Kara but I've fought Sora's demons some time ago. but Idk, I'm watching Kimi wa Petto now and it makes me go WTF Japan y u so screwed in the head? constantly. it's entertaining.]

tell me not to do something and you've just raised the chance of me doing it by 50%, jsyk.Reeeeeally now? I may or may not be planning to take advantage of this information in the future. ;DD

And uhhh, you DO realize that I'll never be able to listen to shiosai the same way again right? And that it's probably for the best because That's Briliant, lol? Ok, good, just as long as we've got that cleared up.

Dooood, I love walls! First off, they make me feel less bad about my own and second off, it's so nice to talk with ppl on here with that many words even if it's about jdramas because they usually derail into other things anyway

/pssh if you're weird then i'm a weirdo-loving fool

Omg this paragraaaaaaph. I feel like I'm in grade 11 english class again and I love it. Hmmm, idkw but when I was in high school I used to love that sort of thing and especially the notion of the atypical hero dying, particularly if it was tragic or too early and just yeah, you get the gist. Which probably explains my Shakespeare obsession, lol. BUT NOW. I don't enjoy it as much? Or more like, the idea depresses me first and it takes me longer to accept - comes with old age? Pffft, idek, but in Naoki's case: idk if I want him to be legendary because of his past? Wait, that doesn't make sense.. I guess, I mean to say, a lot of me wanted him to have more and then if he had died I could've at least been like, 'weeeell, at least he got a little more of what he deserved', but then I start thinking about what you mentioned earlier about Yuri and her role as the healer and then it's just like: COULD NAOKI HAVE MADE A BETTER LIFE FOR HIMSELF ANYWAY?

/re-reads the above

Ewwww. PleasepleasePLEASE ignore the above, it makes no sense and if I tried handing this in in grade 9 I would've failed. So. Yeah. I'm a lot less cohesive when I'm trying to get shit across online. |D;;;

tl;dr: Maybe Naoki dying was the right choice at the end of the whole thing.

Good point about RL death being sudden, usually there ain't no hints like we get in jdramas unless it's a sickness or smth. I guess I'm too used to jdramas dropping me a bone or smth before these sorts of things. P:

Ahaha, yes, persistent! That's a mucho better word than what I had in mind originally. xDD But ikr? I mean, even in the non-incest ones kissing is like pulling a tooth, so to think I was hoping for a little smth here. Psssh. Sora Kara definitely ruined me those two were just so flaw-free, how could you NOT ship that?

Honest to god, Yuri's attempt at being helpful boiled my blood like nothing else. It was one of those parts where all you can do is yell things like giiiirl, you gon' die! and really? really? furiously at the screen. On the one hand it just felt sooo very preventable, but on the other I guess that was sort of the point? Made it more effective and devastating for the people involved and I'll admit, I liked how it echoed the murder in the past as its modern-day reincarnation. OH GOD THAT PHONECALL. It definitely reaffirmed that Yuri was gonna die but I think in a lot of ways it redeemed Naoki for me too - the ice was melting from his heart, maybe things were going to be okay, other cliche things, etcetc.

SRSLY. SOME OF KIM'S BEST ACTING IN THE DRAMA WAS UP IN THAT SCENE. JUST SO HEARTWRENCHING. ;AAAAAA;

(You should TOTALLY rewatch Karei-naru /biased me is biased Oh Beautiful Life. I'm terrified of going back and watching his old dramas like BL and LV and LG for some strange reason - but at the same time! I really want to immerse myself in Kim's roots and Completely Understand all the references that come out of those things. Have you watched those three? If so, which one would you say is a must, like, you-don't-deserve-to-live-if-you-haven't-watched-this-yet kind of must? Loool, I keep saying I'll watch Kimi wa Petto because the manga Tramps Like Us was my favouritest thing in middle school but idk, the fact matsujun's in it kind of weirds me out, even though I love me some uhrashee /blahblahblah)

i'm starting to realise i'm easier to manipulate than i would've thought. XD

walls are addicting, you go wall once and then you realise, wow it's a wall! and then you can't stop. i think it's because they're so pretty.

I wish I paid so much attention in Polish classes in high school, would've saved me so much scolding. >.> ehm, anyway. but doesn't it have something to do with personal attachment to the character? then it's harder to accept his death. and I think you're right that it is sad that Naoki basically suffered all his life and after all the horrible things, he just went and died and never had a chance to experience the good things. I guess it's questionable whether he was on his way to a happier life or if he was already so broken that he wouldn't know how to live normally anymore, so depending on how you interpret that, his death could be tragic or less tragic?

so maybe this is why it's so hard to accept, and also with the lack of hints that he could end up dying, it's hard to decide how to feel about it. now that I think about it, in Sora Kara I started to expect Ryo would die by the end of it probably half way through the drama or earlier, because there was no way they could clean up the mess otherwise and he couldn't just end up in jail because that's too human for Kimu's tragic characters, as we've already established, but I never thought Yuko would die too, and okay I'm talking way too much about Sora, what I was trying to say was that Nemureru Mori doesn't have the same inevitable-ness of Naoki's death. he didn't have to die, all the loose ends have been tied already, all the plot knots undone and his death didn't change anything. so this could be why it feels unnecessary for a lot of people.

uh. whenever I'm getting worked up about the lack of kissing and sex in jdramas, I try to tell myself it's the cultural difference and I have a lot of tolerance for Japan's cultural differences but THIS ONE STILL FRUSTRATES ME TO NO END. the flawlessness of Ryo and Yuko is still keeping a part of my heart broken off and I don't think it's ever going to heal. ;.;

It was one of those parts where all you can do is yell things like giiiirl, you gon' die! and really? really? furiously at the screen.I hate this! the times when I want to yell at the character for doing the supposedly 'right thing' that is obviously going to get them hurt/killed and it would save everyone so much angst if they just stopped and have a second thought! and just after it finally seems that they may be alright and there's a way out of the dark for them.

and soon after that it's Keita and all that and then Naoki's lost everyone and why did they have to torture him like that, why? scriptwriters, I'm looking at you.

[Karei-naru is so much awesome I'm not sure if I can handle it again yet. w-w-wait, are you telling me you haven't seen Long Vacation? HOW ARE YOU STILL ALIVE, I DON'T KNOW! LOOK AT YOUR CHOICES! I meant, I think this is the one Kimu drama you absolutely should see. ;D and Pride, goddamn! and you call yourself Canadian! I'd personally say don't bother with LG, unless you want to see what a trainwreck it is for yourself. and BL is so emotionally draining, I swore to myself I was never watching it again, except that I might, so it depends if you're up for that. I don't know how I ended up watching Matsujun dramas, it had something to do with me watching Oguri Shun dramas and Matsujun was in so many of them and I used to hate his face, but that was last summer and now I randomly thought I'd like to watch a Matsujun drama and hah, I have no control over the stuff I watch apparently. it's a weird storyline though, I'm not sure how I feel about it.]

Naaaw, high school's the best time to not pay attention in class; the consequences are way less. start not giving a shit in uni and then a few weeks later shit's hitting the fan like not knowing answers to mid terms and turning papers in late, etcetc. /speaking from experience? maybe xDD But HOMYGODYES. Attachment is everything, definitely for me, and probably for most people too. And I guess it's more than just liking a person too, it depends a lot on how the character's portrayed and I guess if you basically want to care. Personally, I'm one of those people who gets really invested in these things, idkw, I might not even necessarily like the drama persay, but I'll still get dragged in and cry on demand and just generally get my emotions thrown all over the place. stupid boys over flower the korean ver. is ridiculously guilty of this, i hated that shit but i couldn't stop and cried every. single. episode. and whenever one of the stupid songs associated with sadness played i was a puppet and bawling my eyes out and just BLARGH. dramas like that suck /uhhhh major derail is derail

tl;dr: Yeah. Whether or not you thought his death was for the best is totally up to the individual in the end.

The thing I hated the most about Sora Kara was that you like KNEW there was no way that sexysexy man was going to live. Like you said, jail wasn't enough and he had to "make up" for the stuff he'd done - which leaves us with death. YUKO'S WAS TOTALLY UNCALLED FOR! Like, I mean, I gueeeeess I understood her motivations? Sort of? I don't think I'll ever be able to completely get where she was coming from though since yanno, she fell in love with her long-lost bro, did all those sexy things wih him, on top of all the things he did and maybe even the burden of her friend's death who can i just say I Did Not Like - at least Ryo and Yuko will be together forever? D|;; Woooow, since I've already devoted this many sentences to Sora Kara, also need to add how BAAAWW Sanma was in that, totally convinced all the way and SanTaku origins are beautiful. Um, but wait. This was supposed to be about kissing and cultural differences, lol. idk, on the one hand, I think I'm spoiled by western stuff and kissing&more I'm exposed to because of it, but on the other I really think that sometimes Japan can Up It's Game. I know they have it in them to kiss like real people do once in a while in these things. It's so sad how happy hand-holding makes me sometimes. |D

I hate it, but at the same time I love it because I'm getting all immersed into the world and usually without realizing it; so it can go both ways. Karei-naru is the most guilty of making me yell at my computer screen though. I kept talking to my screen and shaking my fist and eye-rolling and just having really expressive one-sided conversations with that drama, ahaha.

Yeah, I think killing off Every Single One Of Naoki's Friends was a little overkill. /like this comment? ;AA;

(EHEHEHE. I'm kind of turned off by how old they look, ngl, even though on the same token I love old shit, so idk! LV is the one he... plays the piano, right? The synopsis for LG never hooked me and I feel like BL would make me cry. Okay, next time I'm in a Kimura kick, I'll check it out. I was gonna watch Gift, but I needed smth a little more uplifting after this hot mess so I'm watching a drama about a man who's contemplating suicide instead /LOL I've only watched like, one of Oguri's dramas and even I know Matsujun's in all of them, ahaha. The thing I hear the most about Kimi wa is that Jun's, like, ridiculously cute in it. You agree with that?)

if worse comes to worse, i can probably get my hands on one of those men in black memory-eraser things. :Db

P.S. i'm catching up on this korean variety show and they used that intense bgm from sora kara whenever sanma was chasing ryo or you know, every other intense scene. i figured this would be relevent at the very least. ♥

well you can use it against me but it's just because it's you, jsyk. :p

can't agree more! then one day they actually tell you that you're not studying there anymore and it's kind of sad and no way I'd be speaking from experience, right? which is why I'm telling myself every year that this time I'll actually do things properly and won't skip classes etcetc. and I truly believe it, too. it's just that it somehow doesn't want to work? I get ridiculously attached to characters too and I think this could be what I'm watching dramas for the most, to have my heart wrenched out and stepped over a countless times by all the things that happen to them. the plot is secondary in that I can like a drama with a ridiculous plot, but I can't if I don't feel anything for the characters. and lol, I think I do that too, crying my eyes out even if the drama isn't particularly good, but the playing-with-viewer's-emotions parts are executed really well.

I find that jdramas are more unpredictable than western stuff, but they still have some patterns that make some things easy to predict, and one of those is that a character has to make up for what they did one way or another - particularly when it's a basically good character or one that isn't supposed to be completely one-dimensionally bad, which is Sora Kara's case. Yuko dying left me speechless [well, crying-speechless] because if I remember correctly, there was something earlier in the drama when she said that she is like a cockroach that will survive anything, and it stuck in my head and I was betting on Sanma to die rather than her. and I had this image of her character as being really strong, so her motivation is kind of questionable too. I thought it was mostly that she couldn't stand it that she made such an awful mistake and killed her brother/lover [while he really loved her] but most probably it was just the perfect tragic ending? ohgod, I can't believe I feel like crying now, this is what Sora does to me. and uh, that friend, I wasn't crying for her tbh and the fact that she had Gackt's smile didn't help her at all. and damn, Sanma! the first time I was watching it, I had no idea who he was so I lacked the additional perspective, but the second time I was scared that after all the silly stuff I've seen these two men do, I wouldn't be able to completely immerse myself in the drama world - but there was nothing like that, no problem at all! although I had a few giggles of a shipper at some scenes with just the two of them, ehm.

I believe in Japan and that they do kiss like anyone else and have normal relationships that don't seem like a first teenage love when they're actually in their twenties or thirties - so I wish they didn't enforce that ~pure~ image in the dramas all the time. Shiawase ni narou yo had me in spasms over how possibly it is a romatic story when they don't as much as suck on each other's mouths! screw hand-holding! >.<''

Karei-naru is definitely this type. I do that a lot too, whether it's because my fav characters are getting in trouble or there are charcters I don't like and I'm telling them to go and die. but the absolutely ridiculous plot twists give me probably the most agitated reactions. I've asked my computer screen "ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?" so many times, I think I should get an answer at least once by now. :|

[yup, LV is the one where he plays the piano, is ridiculously young and pretty and his character is actually shy and not awesome at all, which is an interesting thing to watch, and there's Yamaguchi Tomoko, who is totally cool, and there's a lot of relationship stuff, but it's not tiring at all, which proves the script is A+ and it just gives you a really positive feeling.I needed smth a little more uplifting after this hot mess so I'm watching a drama about a man who's contemplating suicide instead:DDD I can't. and I don't know, Jun is cute in Kimi wa Petto although not really pretty imho, at first I was like: what happened to his face? ah, it's probably the poodle hair that's eating his head. but he acts cute, which weirded me out at first a lot, lol.]

good, that's a plan! :D

OMG how I hated that bgm! no show should ever use it for anything! O.O

I think I lurk-read you talking about that under faiee's journal a long while back |D;;; /because i lurk read ppl's comments all the time but it's not like i'm on probation this semester or smth & surprised it didn't happen sooner and srsly not skipping classes in uni feels like i'm going against some moral code somedays or, yanno, that's how i convince myself on days like that and yeah this is totally just a story a friend of a friend told me. no relation. tl;dr: I feel you. Totally just gonna' reiterate you here: EXACTLY. If it weren't for character attachment idk what I'd be watching jdramas for or any dramas in general really. But especially the ridiculous ones, it's good ol' caring-for-characters that get us through. SRSLY THO. I think jdramas have some sort of crackcocaine exuding from their shows because they always get you coming back and wanting more and crying like a newborn baby and really, at the end of the day it all comes down to this. They've got us wrapped around their finger. ;AA;

Mm, IA on jdramas being more unpredictable - I think they're really good at the twists. Even though, yeah, like you said, they've got some of those familiar equations, they still manage to come out of nowhere and surprise us with smth new. Aaaah, I actually sort of had the same thought too about Sanma dying. I figured it'd be smth like him sacrificing himself for Yuko, BECAUSE EXACTLY, when was she supposed to die? I didn't remember the cockroach line, but definitely with smth like that in your head, you'd be led to believe it too. YESTHATTOO! I can't imagine how much of a mindfuck it must've been to kill not only your lover but then your brother and really, just the idea of killing anyone in general is pretty heavy so tack on those other things and that's quite the concoction you've got there. It was the perfect tragic ending though, Even Though I'd Really Like One Of These Things To End Happily For Once - and omg, Sanma in the car afterwards listening to his radio and just sobbing so unSanma-like? I DIIIIIIIED. And I have the ost too, and they have the song on it, but it's the one during the scene so over the music comes in Sanma's sobs and you're just like, why the fuck would you put that there?! ;AAAAAAAA; Every scene with Ryo and Sanma was perfect, lol, and ikr? I was worried I was gonna guffaw every time Sanma came on the screen, which was nearly every minute but nooo, he was flawless and it was interesting to see him do that sort of switch. :333 /was this really a conversation about nemumori first? lol

PAHAHAHA. They don't kiss in Shiawase At All?! I couldn't finish it, I stopped like, episode 5 or smth? Shingo's gawjus in it and I was totally rooting for the nerd but I just couldn't get through the rest knowing that I knew the ending already and meh. I did see a lot of screencaps of them holding hands and all, and I know they kissed at the wedding? But yeah, for a drama promoted as a rom, like, srsly, BRING ON THE ROM ALREADY. It's a shame that the pure image is all over the place too except for those beautiful dramas starring Kim'. kindof related: idgi when those polls come out about fav kissing stars or whatever and kim is never in the top 3. Like cawmon ppl! GET IT RIGHT! /done

All this Karei-naru talks just makes me want to rewatch it now, lol, but I srsly should be watching smth new.

(Oooh, positive-feelings you say? That's a good sign. I do kind-of-really want to see Kim play the piano too, ahaha, and Tomoko's cute~ Okok, I swear, next Kim' drama is definitely LV and if you see me saying anything different, scold me fiercely)

Yeah, about that suicide drama, I've kinda paused it and am now like knee-deep in Kamen Rider W instead |D;; /wut? Lol, idek. Butbut, uhhh, if you're ever in the mood for a light-hearted show starring pretty boys and metal suits and cheesy cgi, I totally recommend it? And yeah, that's totally what weirded me out about Petto, Jun rolling around and acting cute? Uhh, legitimately cannot compute. And now the korean re-make's coming out starring jang geun suk and he looks good in the curls at least, so idk, maybe I'll give that a shot? xDD

LOL, REALLY? Did you actually hate the bgm or just what it was associated with? I liked it a lot, although listening to the ost always bums me out.

and to think that up until not long ago I was thinking I'd like to stay at uni until PhD or something. then I looked realistically and yeah, not gonna happen. but it's amazing that you can make yourself do it, you know. I respect your strong will. I mean, your friend's friend's of course. <3 omg, the crackcocaine is so true, I'm just waiting for the day when dramas become an official addiction, then maybe they'll be refunding the therapy [and if therapy included discussing dramas? fun! :D]. at the beginning I was only watching Kimu ones, telling myself it's just because of him, but then I ran out of those and I'm still watching dramas. thank god they're so short and don't run for five or ten seasons [but then I guess that completeness of a story over 10 or 11 episodes is a big part of their appeal].

I think the last one I've seen that had the most delicious twists was Bara no nai hanaya. honestly! I love it, even when it crosses the line of ridiculous, the jaw-dropping feeling that the plot twists give you is amazing. lolol, was this really about Nemureru Mori? 8D hah, I think I dl'ed the ost too and never listened to it once, because I still couldn't handle anything to do with Sora at that time. but omg, why would they include that? ;.; but yes, that scene, that scene! while character death often gives me a little bit of sense of peace, I am bawling the most for the surviving character and Sanma in the car at the end was just the most devastating thing ever. and that he was crying not just for his "sister", but for the both of them. ;.; [although I still half-expected him to have a car crash in the end or something, it would be fittingly over the top]. and now I kind of want to re-watch it for the Kimu-Sanma scenes, but it'd be ridiculous to watch the whole drama, but if I start fast-forwarding through it I will end up getting dragged into it anyway and oh no. D:

as far as I remember, they don't kiss until the last ep of Shiawase, no, but to tell the truth I don't remember much from that drama and you're not missing much, I can tell you that. I only finished it because I always finish my dramas, even if it takes a lot of fast-forwarding and fist-shaking [and maybe because I wanted to see Meisa's outfits :P]. it's a total shame because it was such cuteness at the beginning, but halfway through it got so incredibly predictable, it was just painful to watch so yeah, you're definitely right in dropping it. the furthest they go in all of their dating is hand-holding and then they like, get married. WTF. to tell the truth I couldn't care less about their realtionship after a while because it was so boring and for fuck's sake! you've got Shingo and Meisa there, it's hard to get more gorgeous than that and yet it's as hot as fish in the freezer. ._. but I think they're sort of wasting Kimu's potential too. TsukiKoi was trying, but all it did was give me an idea that his character was impotent [could be why he was an asshole?] 'cause he had three! gorgeous! women! that! wanted! him! and didn't even try getting it on with any of them. and I mean, he was supposed to be a not particularly nice guy, isn't making him so decent a little bit of a contradiction? now I doubt that Taku and the doggies [why can't I call Nankyoku by its proper title is beyond me] will have much of romance and soon they'll just start writing him off as too old for that shit and there goes my satisfaction, outta window. and if Japan thinks the likes of Sakurai Sho are the hot stuff, I'm not sure this world should exist any more. not that I have anything against Sho, but he is so incredibly not sexy, I don't even know.the only explanation I have for these polls is that the sexgod is just above the level, otherwise brain.not.processing.

haha, the LV talk made me want to re-watch. I decided against BL and Karei-naru, 'cause I can't let myself get emotionally destabilised right now. :P and honestly, Kimi wa Petto ended with me re-watching some Gokusen eps just to shake off the cute!Jun 'cause it was so weiiiiird. damn Jang Geun Suk, I told myself long ago that I wouldn't be getting into any Koreans [need to limit my fandoms] but he is so incredibly cute, I kinda really want to check his stuff out. so you can let me know how it is if you watch the re-make. ;) not sure if I have enough courage for Kamen Rider. XD

I'm not sure, I thought it was annoying how it always played right before something whoah!surprising was going to happen/be revealed, as if they were putting up a sign PAY EXTRA ATTENTION NOW. I guess it's not particularly bad on its own.

I was the same, well, not nearly as ambitious though, lol. I figured I'd try going for a master's afterwards but halfway through my 2nd year, I knew there was no way. 8 page papers tire me out, there's no way I could troll through 100+ ones. :| THAT'S TOTALLY ONE OF THE REASONS WHY JDRAMAS ARE SO ADDICTIVE. They're short and quick to get through and honestly, idk how I'm supposed to properly get back into non-asian ones again when 20+ kdramas make me wanna die, ahaha. And to think I'd been watching shows With Actual Seasons before. xDD But srsly, isn't that how it always starts? First you're just watching out for your bias, but then you get reeled in by all these other interesting plots and pretty people and before you know it you're screwed (not that it's a bad screwed or anything, but screwed all the same). /i used screwed too much, lol

OH BARA. What a precious drama that was. I loved the flow of the entire thing, even though 'course there were some things you could assume, but it was still so good and omg the relationships in it were beautiful and I think it's a bonus that Shingo confessed to Eiji being the most like his RL self because uhhh that's pretty amazing. ;AA; Lolol, sorry Nemumori! [although I still half-expected him to have a car crash in the end or something, it would be fittingly over the top] I shouldn't have laughed but I so did because omg, did you not want to have any of your heart left? xDD I would've totally killed someone if that ended up being the case. His r/ship with Ryo was ♥ in one of those strange-probably-unhealthy ways. Did you end up watching it again, ahaha?

Yesssss. Shiawase had so much potential and I was pretty hooked in the beginning and rooting for ppl and getting attached but then it started going down a road where I got all eye-rolly and purposefully distracted myself with a Tsuyopon drama and by then I had seen all the spoilers and screencaps so figured I could live without finishing it. /run-ons ftw! But honestlyhonestly, was TsukiKoi THAT BAD? I don't think I've heard a single good thing about it outside of Kim's looks and idek, it makes me so curious~ But wait, was there any delicious sexual tension that made up for the lack of actual getting it on though? Sometimes that's better. 8DD NGL, I'm hoping Nankyoku (usually I call it dog sleds or alaska because I forget how to spell Nankyoku, lol) doesn't focus too much on the romance, I very much want highly emphasized human-dog dynamics and awesome comraderie between the teammates. The day they start writing Kim off as too old and giving him shit roles because of it is the day jdramas die, nuff said. OMGYESTOALLOFTHIS. Exactly, I don't hate Sho, but he's not sexy, maybe cute, but anything like Kim? And Sexier Even?! Srsly now, 12 year olds need to get out and go watch naruto or smth. Did you see the latest Johnny's ranking poll thing most sexiest & charming on arama? WHY IS KIM NUMBER 4 AND WHY IS MATSUJUN NUMBER 1? It's things like that, that make me think the world's gonna be no good in a few years.MTE.

Pahaha, so you re-watched LV then? Oohooh. Does that mean LV isn't emotionally destructive and more, like, oh, idk, happy-ish? :DDD Yanno, I have yet to watch Gokusen, but someday, like all those other things I want to see, lol. You've never watched kdramas? I find they're way more dramatic and tend to be longer but idk, the korean ver. of boys over flowers sort of ruined them for me in general so I have yet to properly get back into them again. Their historical stuff seems really good though, I have a list longer than ten arms of things under that I wanna watch. I'll let you know how that goes when I check it out~ Kamen Rider is good if you just want to watch smth silly but incredibly likeable and be reminded of your childhood again. P:

AAAH. Yeaaaah, I totally get that. I liked it musically, so I sort of let it off for it's annoying purpose. I think I like it in the ost though because it's one of those that you can listen (the album in its entirety) and immediately return to the scene and remember everything that was happening then and idk. It takes a pretty good score to do that for me. Why am I talking about this? /lolwut

actually, I would've liked the papers if I wasn't always putting them off till last minute, ending up writing the whole 5 or 8 pages the night before the deadline. I don't think you can physically write 100 pages in one night, though, so yeah, I'm totally with you there. :/ lol, I just realised this is exactly why I can't get back into any of the shows I used to watch/start on new ones that people are recommending: I look at all the episodes/seasons and am like ...I think I'll pass. :| I got into Game of Thrones during the holidays because the 1st season had 10 eps, but then the end made me go WHUT how does it end here, I'm supposed to wait for the 2nd season now WTF. I always wonder if I'd choose to get into all this fandom shit again if I knew what it was going to do to me, but... I probably would anyway. XD /there's never too much screwed?

srsly, Bara made me believe in jdramas again 'cause all I had been watching was sort of meh and then Bara came and blew my mind. but really, he did say that? not sure how I feel about it, it is cute, but I was feeling sorry for Eiji so much. ._. lol, Nemureru Mori who? I think I don't have a heart anymore, broken is all that is left, but I didn't necessarily wanted it to end like that, I was just prepared for the possibility. XD of course I didn't watch it, my short attention span didn't let me remember about it for long enough to seriously consider watching it. :P but now that you mention...

IA, I really thought Shiawase was going to be great judging from first ep or two. I don't think you get many dramas with such blatant cliche script. and Idk, I love to make fun of TsukiKoi, but I don't personally think it was as bad as they say. the main problem imho was that the plot wasn't properly developed and you couldn't really understand the characters and their motivations and consequentially it was hard to get attached to them. as for sexual tension, the Kimu/Lin Chiling "I want you" scene will be forever in my top10 and there's a couple of more nice ones I guess. confusion was still the prevalent feeling for me, though. Nankyoku is definitely not a drama to look for romance [and unless it's gay romance, I don't think I'd be much interested; I mean, so many men in the cast and one alien being, i.e. Ayase Haruka, what kind of romance could it be? I don't hate on her, btw, she's just, eh, special.] it would be the day jdramas changed forever, but, ah! I suddenly remembered about that promise they had with Sanma that Sanma will make a movie starring Kimu when Kimu isn't so popular anymore. if worse comes to worst, that'd be still epic?I suppose that being in Arashi is +10 to sexiness, apparently? I adore Jun, but not in that way. although I think I can see how people find him sexy, much more WTF-worthy in that poll was Yamapi. that's like, one step away from necrophilia. /ugh, actually recently fandom in general makes me want to be so bitchy, I have to keep away as much as I can not to explode. js, I don't hate these guys etc. etc.

re-watched 2 eps, then my eyes went all wrong and red and hurting and I couldn't watch much for a couple of days. D: it absolutely isn't emotionally destructive, I'd say quite the opposite, it's even building? XD nope, I never watched Korean stuff, although you are kind of baiting me now with the dramatic bit. :D but I know exactly what you mean, my to-watch lists are like that too, and with constant distractions, [and re-watches! why do we re-watch stuff? totally wanting to go TsukiKoi next, kill me now.] it's not getting anywhere really. I mean, not to even mention real life, seriously, I wasn't asking for one but it somehow attached itself to me and follows me everywhere and I don't know what I'm supposed to do with it? >.>'

oh yeah, I remembered that LV actually has a nice OST too. another reason, hah. :D

I've always wondered how squished they could get until they just didn't or lj told us to stop, ahaha.

Oh man, totally. I'd probably like papers more if I didn't procrastinate so much on top of having to take classes I had absolutely no interest in like the history of global economics and then writing papers on equations and the science behind them. BORING. Although theses are cool in that you get to come up with your own topics and study them for like a year, but alas. I was tired with uni a long time ago, lol. Even though I'm totally not prepared for the real world either. /so conflicting

jdramas spoil us! I have some srs catching up to do in terms of my non-asian things but seasons are like nearly 30 episodes long and idk if I can do that anymore. ;AAA; And even kdramas average a minimum of 20 eps so all signs point to sticking with jdramas for now, ahaha. But ooh, GoT! That's a show I've been wanting to watch for a while now, I like those sorts of series, just haven't found spared the time for it yet. How'd you like it? I generally hear pretty good things about it and ppl are always spamming it on tumblr so I've probably had a few plot lines spoiled by now, lol. Omg, totally. Once you go jdramas you never go back-ama? and I have no regrets. But I DO wonder how long I'll keep this up, like, I can't imagine being in my 30s and maybe married and maybe with kids pfft and still watching these for some weird reason. Probably coz that feels like a different world still and it's not impossible, there are plenty of grown ppl in fandom or who still stick with it. So yeah. /where was i going with this? |D;;

Bara is pretty much flaw-free in every single way. I have yet to come across a person who's seen Bara and had bad things to say about it. Despite how impossible-ish it was, or at least certain parts like Yuko's role in the drama, you still wanted everything to go well and that ending was just So Satisfying and perfect and ugggh, I could watch the last episode all over again just for Eiji to sweep her off her feet again and siiiiigh. <33 I totally get what you mean, Eiji is ridiculously adorable and sweet but so many things didn't want to go well for him ;AAA; I'll take every little piece of info the boys want to give us about their real selves, especially someone like Shingo who's all BWAAAH on tv, but then you find out he's actually a lot more toned down irl and is shy and doesn't like giving out his number and all those other tiny little things that you get to piece together about them all to make up these really intricate people who might sometimes be even more interesting outside of their work and lolol, why am I running on about this? You know what I mean. xDD But srsly, it's probably good you didn't watch it again, you'd endanger any of the broken bits of your heart you had left, but gdi, at the same time, why is it always the disgustingly depressing dramas that gut us the hardest? It's the dramas' fault in the first place for leaving us with such an impression. P:

I figure I can ask you since I'm not planning on finishing it, did the ending for Shiawase wrap up all the other characters' stories too? Like, what ended up happening between Shingo's and Kuroki's mom and dad? They get together? Or was it actually not romantic at all? I was shipping those two which in turn meant I was against Shingo/Meisa, lol. Ooh, and did Shingo's best friend and Riisa (as you can see I don't can't remember anybody's character name) ever get together too? idk, they always fought but at the same time~ /LOL YOU CAN CHOOSE TO IGNORE THIS ENTIRE BLOCK I WOULDN'T BLAME YOU But whoawhoa. The "I want you" scene, huh? I'm pretty curious, because, yanno, Kim knows how to work sexual tension like it's no one's biznass. I can't wait for subbed Nankyoku to be released, I nearly watched it raw but then I was just like, no. It's hard for me to watch things again subbed after watching it raw, so I'll just be patient for now. But I'm really happy about the ratings too, ep 2 got 19.0, so I'm hoping for a relatively high average overall. :Db

(I have to admit to guffawing at alien being i.e. ayase, lol, idek how I feel about her tbh but I was pretty surprised to see her cast in this - she's the love interest right? And isn't Nakama Yuki supposed to be his ex-wife or whatever? If romance were to be focused on, I'd rather it was between him and Nakama but oh well, that's popularity for you). Oh yeah. I suppose I could live with a SanTaku movie collab if worse came to worse, although I'd still hope for a collab anyway even if Kim remains dramagod forever, lol. /wants to have her cake and eat it too

Yeah, being in Uhrashee and considering their popularity, that has to add some points somewhere. I guess in the case of Jun, I find his physical features to be more pretty or beautiful than sexy, although when he decides to turn it on, he can certainly be, but my general image of him isn't that and at the end of the day, sexgod biased is sexgod biased. UGH. DEAD FISH EYES. Srsly, a little more emotion can go a long way, I mean, the dood has looks, but it's what he's doing with 'em that's the problem. /pahaha, honestly, I know exactly where you're coming from, there's days where I just want to spew out terrible things on my journal just to get it out or under a post in arama or smth but I don't want to be a shit-stirrer either 8|

Lol, LV's building? Well, that seems promising at the very least. Dramas like that are hard to come by or more like, I avoid them and go straight for the heart-wrenching shit. :3 No, srsly, think of the most dramatic jdrama you've watched, bajillion-quadruple that and you've got the average amount of drama you'll find in the korean ones. (re-watching stuff is one of the most fun things you can do and idgi either; esp. the ones that made me cry like a baby, i like re-watching those when i want to go through a rollercoaster of emotions) That's exactly how to-watch lists go! Other shit gets in the way don't even get me started on RL that decides to actually exist once you think you're getting somewhere and before you know it, you're re-watching things and watching dramas that weren't even on your list to start with and it just never ends. DD:

Ooh, yay. I don't think I've come across a jdrama that had a bad ost yet, but I only dl the ones that stick with me anyway

history of global economics sounds... well, it's the same sound as when my brain breaks. i definitely wouldn't manage it. i'm lucky enough to have mostly classes that i find interesting and that aren't so hard except for all the reading they require, but i can't even get excited about them this year. ouch, ouch, why does this topic follow me everywhere i go? i mean, about not being prepared for the real world, 'cause i feel the same way and i have no idea what i'm gonna dooooooo. :|

they totally spoil us, it's a conspiracy! jdramas taking over the world, one brainwashed fangirl at a time. [are you behind this, Johnny? 'cause you're behind every evil conspiracy.] oh, so that's one minus point for kdramas then, and i'm back to feeling indifferent about them. GoT is good, it has blood, sex, violence, death, badass women and sexy men with sexy accents, basically everything a girl could want. ;D I've even had a brief and lurk-y romance with the fandom, or at least the gay incest porn part of the fandom, because they've had lovely angst fic. can see myself watching the 2nd season too when it's out, and I rarely stay for the 2nd seasons, if that says anything. so, definitely recommending. lol, I think I know what you mean. maybe it's because jdramas are our means of distraction/escape from the real world for a moment, so it seems that when we decide to live in full mode, and I suppose that's what getting married and having kids would demand from you, there won't be much place for jdramas? I know that the person I want to be works seriously and is quite busy and fandom doesn't really fit in her life. not saying that serious and busy people can't be in the fandom, just that I can't do both because I have no self-restraint with fandom and it makes me lazy. this is all base-less speculation, though. :P

srsly, I don't know what it is about Bara. I told my friend the whole plot and she was dying over how ridiculous it was, but at the same time when you watch it and not think about the lack of realism, it's so gorgeous. mhm, I know exactly what you mean, I love picking out all the small details about their real selves from the things they say and do, even though we'll never know the whole truth, it's interesting to see more and more new angles every time. [btw. srsly. tell me what I should think about Tsuyopon saying he's a virgin, 'cause I don't know. he couldn't possibly be serious? :o] I HATE it that most of my favourite dramas are depressing in one way or another, because I LOVE it when they turn us inside out, but I CAN'T mentally afford being turned inside out again and again. D:

ugh, you can ask me about Shiawase, but the truth is I can't remember. I think I didn't invest enough attention into it to have any bits of plot left in my memory, apart from those that pissed me off. I think that no one got together and it was left open, but don't quote me on this, I really can't remember anything from the last ep. XD btw, I think I might be taking back most of the it-wasn't-so-bad stuff I said about TsukiKoi, because I tried watching it again and I couldn't with a straight face, I was cringing and laughing and WTF?-ing all the time and despite all the pretty, I couldn't get past two episodes. I see it now that it doesn't make any sense. at all. also waiting for the subbed Nankyoku, although I noticed I am not dying to watch it all that much. will probably get excited when I watch it, but it's not the OMG I NEED IT NOW EVEN RAW feeling [that I had with yamato for example]. but yay for the ratings, I'm happy for everyone who worked hard to make it happen, it's such an epic project. <3

[eh, Nakama Yukie even appears in it? but then, who doesn't appear in it, srsly. XD but I think his wife is dead or something and Ayase is sister-in-law? which will probably make the romance between them wrong and between-the-lines and never coming to a conclusion. prove me wrong, Nankyoku, I dare you! or, well, don't prove me wrong, 'cause I think it would be fine that way. Ayase is super cute imho, but I can't really see her in a romantic role. Nakama would be even less exciting for me, though. /super-picky] yes, I want movies and dramas and everything, I want all the cake in the world. but actually, I would want him to appear in movies more. most of my favourite works he did are movies, and dramas suck lately, and asdfg I want a movie. :P

I used to think Jun isn't very pretty, and only when I started to like him, I gave his face some credit, so I don't know. and I watched him in dramas more than I did in other shows, so his roles influence my view of him too to some extent. basically, I don't know what it is about Arashi that they're all around 30, but they still look like boys to me. BAHAHA, Yamapi the poor fucker, I'm starting to like him more now that everyone hates him, mostly because I feel sorry for him. I mean, how can you hate him, does he look like someone who actually knows what he's doing? don't they just put the batteries in every morning and have him work all day and then put him back into his box? /yeah, exactly. I was a shit-stirrer once, I think I'm too old for it now and I wouldn't like myself for it either. or that's what I tell myself every time fandom makes me want to crack my head against a wall. D:

YESS, I watched it again and it was very building. :DDD and pretty and adorable and heart-warming and all kinds of amazing. /meltmelt I'm not sure if I've seen any other dramas like this, everything is usually full of ridiculously dramatic shit or just light-hearted comedy, although I'm not saying no to ridiculously dramatic shit. uh, you're making it hard for me, kdramas, I don't know if I want to watch you or not. [the ones that made me cry like a baby, i like re-watching those when i want to go through a rollercoaster of emotions THIS, THIS. I'm like, hmmm, I wouldn't mind bawling my eyes out, how about a jdrama? XD and because with the ones we've seen we already know that they make us bawl our eyes out, a re-watch it is. or at least I guess that's how it works.] hah, now my to-watch list is weirdly empty, or I just don't know what I want to watch next. actually, I don't even feel like watching any new drama, I'd be happy with re-watching. first signs of brain death. :/

even when I do dowload them, I almost never listen to them. I don't know, guess I'm not too big on OSTs.

uh, I'm terribly late and behind on my LJ, but you're talking here about Sleeping Forest, and that's one of my fav dramas, and also a one I hate so much. I have so many confusing emotions concerning it, even after years since I watched it.

This ending really annoyed me, ripped me into pieces and I couldn't get over it for a month, ugh X_x and at the same time it's the reason why I hate this drama.

Naoki is really a great character. Creepy stalkers were never that hot before. But I think I liked the change thorought the series that you mentioned and even if the focus changed from stalker to a tragic hero, he never stopped being a stalker for me xD;His death was really sudden and unfair, and left me confused as to what happened, and guessing, and then denying it, and finally crying my eyes out. I'm uncertain if it was build up well enough. I think creators were kinda playing with us for sure, the ending sequence being the same with the opening one, but explained the bits that were going to happen. We had our hints right at our nose, but we never had a real chance to guess what they are portraying really. But I have seen that opening sequence like almost every episode, and it was always ending with Naoki and Minako standing before the same hammock and there was these words of this song "And we found our way at last", to top it all - repeated twice. They made me hope that things can go better. But no, it seems it always meant they can't meet each other anymore, even if they are standing in the same place, and this song's words are just cruel and bitter and a false hope. That was honestly too much...(and I just rewatched both the opening and ending sequence - now I feel sad X_x)

Minako was a bit of a boring main character, I wasn't particulary fond of her. Neither I liked her relationship with her fiancee. It was Kimura who made the whole drama for me, I'm afraid. But I enjoyed the suspense and constantly changing suspects - even when it changed to the main heroine, though now I agree that the way they did it was kind of ridiculous xDAnd I think I never guessed correctly before the half an hour before revelation who was the killer :/ but I sometimes hoped it could be Kiichiro xD he was another boring character - before we finally learned he had this crazy side to him.And I never truly understood the scenes with his mom. They were misleading, confusing, and it felt like it was a thing never properly explained. At some point I thought maybe he was seeing his mother in Minako? But I don't know if it was hinted or said in the drama, it was a few years since I saw it... I just remember I didn't get it.

I think I'm extremely slow - I never realized it was reference to Sleeping Beauty flying around the drama X_X and even in japanese it's called "Nemureru Mori no Bijou" uh. Me fails a big time :/But now I think the princess had actually two princes to choose from - and she was unable to get even one of them in the end. Dark fairytale without happy ending. at least there wasn't any rape xD

eh, why is that even today I feel so strongly that the ending was completely unfair X_x

how can stalker look so creepy and hot and cute at the same time is beyond me. XD

oh and can i ask what show is from (the gif on hpswf1 comment that you gave), where the other 4 hugging and Nakai looks like he want to join to??

i just read your numerous comment with herecticpop, it's very entertaining. Lolwhen they start to give Kimura some cheap and crap dramas, i think it's the day that i stop watching Jdramas. but oh well, maybe tsuyoppon drama only ;p...